your opinions please

I think what you have is nice you've spent alot of time on it and you should try it.I like the white sand.Why go to black anyways.

I think what you have is nice you've spent alot of time on it and you should try it.I like the white sand.Why go to black anyways.

I like the background, looks cool in my opinion. I'm not a fan of stacked slate for the hiding places, but that's just me. If you like it, you should keep it. I'm not sure a different type of rock would look right with the background and I couldn't have a tank without a bunch of rock in it. I would make a vote for black sand, but what you have looks good too. I just think black would really bring it all together. Overall, I dig it.

I think the piece going across looks good
White sand would look better
I would set it up as a south or central american tank and put a bunch of driftwood and live plants in there

Judging from pic. #5, your fish have nowhere to swim. Maybe just an odd angle? The background looks cool, but eats away alot of tank spaceIMO.

I think it looks great! I'd leave the large piece in place. It will make the cichlids feel safer and they'll swim around more IMO. I'd build the tank around the type of fish you want to keep. I love Oscars, but I'm quite fond of malawi cichlids too. I think the rocks look good with the background. I love black sand personally, but I'm a cheapwad. I like it overall. Good Job! The important thing is that you like it. You're the one that has to look at it and take care of it... :thumb: :thumb:

I like the rocks and background and using the white sand will set off the black rocks instead of it all blending in. I would setup some USJ to help keep the sand clean though or it will be a mess.

I think your backround looks great, im not a fan of the stacked slate though. Also if the edges of slate are sharp the fish could cut themselves on it.

Mikey13 said:

Judging from pic. #5, your fish have nowhere to swim. Maybe just an odd angle? The background looks cool, but eats away alot of tank spaceIMO.

Click to expand...

Agreed.
It would kill me to have a background take up tank space But since it does, I would provide as much space as possible for your fish. Lose the stacked slate and go with something more open, varyng upon which fish you keep. :thumb:

ty for the replies guys. i've come up w/ an idea that i think i will like. it will basically be the same thing but have styro stacks in between the horizontal pieces.
[foreground rock stacks] i'll cut some caves into the styro then cover the styro w/ small vertical pieces. this will give me the more natural look i was hoping for. should take a few weeks to do, so hang in there and i'll post pics of the progress and final set up.
i will also be hunting for cheap black sand to bring it all together.

I like the stacked slate in the foreground. However, if you took out the background and broke/cut the slate into long pieces 2"-3" wide and stacked them the same way as your forefront structures against the back useing waterfall foam or epoxy to hold them together you could work in a lot more caves and crevases utilizing the background better while at the same time creating more room in your tank. It would also give you the added benifet of of being more congruent with the larger structures in the tank.

My aesthetic opinion. :wink:

Edit: Any sharp edges you may end up with can be sanded over with a course emory cloth. That will blunt it up enough so fish won't cut themselves. Thier not high on the IQ scale but neither are they stupid. (Most of them anyhow.)

ill go with E. add a different variety of rocks in it...but i like what u got its pretty cool

dude....thats goin to be sick im goin to have to try that

well come on over tom. i have some spare styro ur welcome to have, can't be to far! :fish:

I really liked your original background, you didn't ditch that, did you?

I'm waiting for pics of the caves set up in the tank!

:thumb:

ty mitz. no,stilll have the backround. the cave structures will sit in the foreground. i should have it finished by monday or tues.